Things That Go Bump in the Night
by GranthamGal
Summary: Cora hears a noise. Robert goes to investigate.


A/N: Just something short I've been meaning to finish for quite a while. Let me know what you think!

**Update: **I'm so sorry to all who reviewed or "favorited" this already but do to some sort of site glitch I've had to delete the original version and repost this story.

* * *

The wedding had been one of the grandest events Downton had ever seen. Hundreds of people had descended upon the property to attend the wedding that had been ever so anticipated. Mary, of course, had been an absolutely beautiful bride and the entire family watched with great pride as she floated down the aisle of the church to marry Matthew; a marriage neither of her parents could have been more pleased about.

The wedding itself had certainly been a most beautiful and carefully executed event, however the days and weeks leading up to it were another story entirely. Utter chaos had been the consistent tone throughout the house as flower arrangements were botched, countless cakes were tested, and wardrobe crisis after wardrobe crisis had ensued. A perfect storm, Robert Crawley had found, was a house full of opinionated and stubborn women all preparing for a wedding. Ultimately, it had been a most perfect affair, though, so the arguments, tears, and lack of sleep had all been worth it.

Ah, the lack of sleep. Insomnia had seemed to plague the house, particularly in the week before the wedding. Carson could, without fail, be found sitting in the servant's hall each morning at 4 am readying himself for the day and often woke the footmen early as well. Then, much to everyone's surprise, Mary and Edith had taken to spending their nights together going over final wardrobe decisions and seating arrangements until the early morning hours. And then there was Cora, who had been unable to sleep for more than a few hours at a time each night. Most nights, Robert would wake up to Cora muttering to herself while furiously making notes about something she "_absolutely needed to discuss with Mrs. Hughes in the morning."_ Unfortunately when she would read back her harried notes to herself the next morning, Cora hadn't the slightest clue what any of them even meant half the time.

So thankfully, on this night three days after the wedding, Downton was finally silent and all its inhabitants were finally sound asleep. Well, almost all of them. Cora had been sleeping soundly, cuddled against her husband, when she awoke with a jolt. She was absolutely sure she had heard a crashing noise, but as she sat up in bed and listened, the house seemed silent. It must have been a dream, she thought as she nestled back against her pillow and wrapped her arm around Robert. Just as she closed her eyes, though, she heard it again: a pronounced crash coming from somewhere downstairs followed by the distinct creaking noise that was made only when someone was walking through hallway down there. Uneasily, she sat back up and nudged her sleeping husband.

"Robert," she whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Not only did he not respond, he snored slightly and rolled over.

"Robert, wake up." Cora whispered a bit louder and brushed her hand across his forehead.

"…Mmmm?" He made some sort of mumbled grunt before burying his face deeper into his pillow.

"_Robert!" _Cora hissed, loudly, once more. This time though, she pulled the pillow from beneath his head as well.

Jolted from his peaceful sleep, Robert sat up quickly and looked confusedly around the room. "What, what is it?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Robert," Cora said, returning to a whisper. "I think there's someone in the house."

Robert sighed slightly and chuckled. "Cora, from the day we married I don't think we've ever been the only two people in the house. There is _always _someone else in the house."

"That's not what I mean." She leaned over and turned the lamp beside her bed on before grasping his hand. "I heard a crash coming from downstairs. It could be a robber!" She said, looking quite concerned. Robert paused to listen for a moment, trying to indulge his wife, but heard nothing.

"Cora, I don't hear anything. May we go back to sleep now?"

"I was sure I heard something," she said with a slight shrug.

"Perhaps it was just the wind, or something outsi—"

"Did you hear that? Did you?" Cora cried, as he paused mid sentence. Another muffled crash had most definitely come from somewhere downstairs. That one, he had certainly heard.

"Yes," Robert murmured, frowning slightly. "Perhaps we should ring for someone just to make sure Isis didn't get downstairs…"

"Robert it's," Cora paused and looked over at the clock on their bedside table, "it's two o'clock in the morning. None of the servants are awake!"

As she spoke, the distinct creaking noise could be heard once more.

"Oh god, I think there's a robber in the main hall," she said, clutching Robert's arm tightly.

"No, that was most definitely coming from the library," Robert replied with a frown.

"Perhaps you should go and check." Cora said, looking up at her husband's perplexed face.

"Cora, I'm not dressed!" He said, looking down at himself. Some pre-bedtime activities, only a while earlier, had left him without his nightclothes, which he saw had been flung across the room onto Cora's vanity.

"That's not my fault!" She said, getting out of bed and retrieving her own robe from the floor.

"Well it's a bit your fault…" Robert chuckled. He was about to protest and try to just go back to sleep, but once more the familiar creek could be heard faintly from downstairs.

"Ok, Ok. I'm getting up," he said before Cora could ask again. Stumbling out of bed Robert redressed himself and looked at Cora, who was still standing and eyeing the door with a frightened frown.

"Robert, what if someone really has broken in?" Cora whispered.

"Cora, I'm quite sure no one has broken into our home—" He paused. Certainly there was a reasonable explanation for the noises, but just in case…"wait here." He disappeared into his dressing room and Cora heard him rifling through his cabinets and moving things around.

"Ah ha!" He called from the other room before reappearing, with a proud look on his face, carrying a large cricket bat.

"What are you going to do with that?" Cora asked curiously.

"Er, well, I just thought I should have something for protection," Robert explained. To display his logic (and skill), he swung the cricket bat enthusiastically, pretending as though he was attacking an invisible robber. Unfortunately, as he swung the bat back down he knocked one of Cora's perfume bottles right off the vanity, which produced a crash of its own as it hit the floor. Cora rolled her eyes but said nothing and looked at him expectantly. "Alright then, lets go."

"Cora, no, you wait here." Robert said as he made his way, bat in hand, toward the bedroom door. If there actually was something amiss it certainly wouldn't do to have his wife in some sort of dangerous situation.

"I'm not letting you go down there alone!" She cried, following behind him. "Besides if there is a robber, don't you want someone else there to ring for help?"

Robert paused and then nodded in agreement. "Good point, ok, let's go." He took her hand with his free hand and they quietly made their way down the hallway. It was quite dark and they could both hear the other breathing, as they got closer to the stairs. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Robert gripped his "weapon," and Cora's hand a bit more securely as he cautiously eyed the main hall from where they were standing. It looked dark, and empty, so they slowly went down, glancing at each other every few steps. They made it to the bottom of the stairs without incident when the heard another muffled sound and it was most definitely coming from the library. Cora gripped Robert's hand even tighter, and he felt her nails pressing into his palm. She looked up at him worriedly as he slowly led them toward the closed door. Standing outside of the library, they could hear muffled movement inside and they exchanged a final concerned look before Robert gripped the doorknob and pushed it open.

Robert went in first, wielding his bat as if it was some sort of large caveman-like club, with Cora following quickly behind him. Upon entry, the room was completely dark, and from what they could both see, everything seemed to be in its place. Robert let out a relieved sigh, but just as he did, both he and Cora spotted a dark figure standing on the opposite side of the room.

"Robert, there's a robber right there!" She screamed, pointing across the room. The figure screamed as well, and dropped whatever they were holding. Just as Robert was approaching, bat in hand, the 'robber' switched a light on from across the room.

"Oh, good God!" Robert cried in utter exasperation.

The room, suddenly bathed in light, revealed Cora standing backed against the far wall of the library in fear, Robert halfway across the room with the cricket bat raised in the air, and in the far corner standing next to Robert's liquor cabinet, was Martha Levinson, holding one of the larger brandy decanters, looking rather stunned. The three of them all stood frozen for a brief moment, realizing how completely ridiculous they looked. Robert was the first to speak.

"Good lord, I should have known." He lowered his weapon and turned around to look at his wife.

"Mother, what are you doing down here?" Cora asked, walking over to where Robert was standing. Martha, still holding the decanter, walked to meet them in the middle of the room. As she approached they saw she was grinning widely and she smelled rather strongly of Robert's best brandy.

"Hello you two. What ever are _you_ doing up at this hour?" She asked, stumbling slightly as she reached the middle of the room.

"Mother, we heard a crashing noise. Are you alright?"

"Besides being three sheets to the wind, I think she's fine." Robert muttered under his breath. Cora, of course, heard and nudged him with her elbow before turning back to face her mother.

"…Mother?"

"Oh Cora, I'm fine. I couldn't sleep, is all, so I came down here for a change of scenery." She said, slurring slightly. "I may have knocked over one of your glasses though, sorry Robert." So that explained the crashing noise. She smiled as she turned to face her son-in-law.

Robert pursed his lips and was about to respond, but knowing her husband and sensing his annoyance, Cora cut him off.

"It's fine. We'll have someone clean it up in the morning. We were just worried when we heard the noise." Cora said, easing the decanter out of her mother's grasp and handing it to Robert.

Martha chuckled and grinned mischievously at the two of them. "I'm not surprised you heard me, these walls _are _rather thin."

"What do you mean?" Cora asked, confusedly.

Martha laughed again and patted Cora on the arm. "Oh nothing, my dear. I just heard some loud…noises…coming from your room on my way down here earlier. It sounded like Robert was—"

"Oh, that's it! I've had enough." Robert interrupted, as Cora's face reddened. Thoroughly exhausted and now rather embarrassed, he had had quite enough insanity for one night. "I'm going back to bed. I'll let you deal with this." He said, looking at Cora. He began trudging out of the library, muttering something about_ 'blasted Americans' _when his mother-in-law called out to him.

"Robert!" She cried, waving his discarded cricket bat in the air, "you forgot your stick!"

Robert rolled his eyes dramatically and hurried back upstairs without another word. Cora, meanwhile, took her mother's arm and led her back upstairs, depositing her safely in the guest bedroom at the other end of the hallway. When she made it back to her own bedroom, she opened the door and was met with a dark room. Robert had already discarded his dressing gown on the floor and was in bed again. Quietly, Cora shrugged off her own robe and crept back into bed as well. Once under the covers she snuggled back up against her husband and let out a content sigh. To her surprise, Robert rolled over to face her and kissed her cheek.

"Just so we're clear," he whispered, "I was absolutely not that loud earlier."

Cora giggled and leaned in to kiss him. "Perhaps you should practice being more quiet," she whispered teasingly.

Robert grasped her waist and smiled mischievously as he pulled the blanket over them and rolled Cora onto her back. "Yes, I think that perhaps I should…"

Down the hall, Martha had slipped back into bed, now tired out and slightly inebriated from her little escapade in the library. Just as she closed her eyes and relaxed into her pillow, though, she heard what sounded like giggles coming from the opposite end of the hall.

"Good lord," she murmured, "they really do need thicker walls."


End file.
